


A Logical Arrangement

by igrockspock



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-27
Updated: 2012-05-27
Packaged: 2017-11-06 03:09:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/414043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/igrockspock/pseuds/igrockspock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Gaila meets Spock, she's holding a phaser rifle with a broken safety.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Logical Arrangement

Gaila crouches at the end of the corridor, her fingers curled around a phaser rifle. The air is cold; she hadn't had a chance to pick up her clothing when the alert sounded. The Starfleet invaders rush into the corridor and stop short at the sight of a naked woman with a weapon. Weak.

"This rifle doesn't have a stun setting," she says. She'd broken the safety off long ago.

"You have nothing to fear from us," says a tall, slender man at the head of the team. His voice is too calm for a human. Vulcan, then.

"But you have something to fear from me," she says. Her position is solid. She has good cover, and she'll be able to pick them off one by one if they come for her. 

"Obviously," the Vulcan says, and she detects a hint of dry humor in his voice. Interesting.

"Shoot him," her captain whispers at her side. "How many of your slave sisters died in his invasion?"

Many, Gaila knows. She wonders if the Vulcan does.

"How many of my kin did you kill when you came aboard this ship?" she asks.

"We had not anticipated slaves would fight their liberators."

"They prefer Orion slavery over the human version," her captain shouts. He looks at her, though she doesn't take her eyes off the Vulcan and his men. "You know what they believe about Orion women in the Federation. They think you are wanton, licentious, empty. For them, you will do nothing but dance and please their men."

 _And you would not let me hold this weapon if you had not broken your arm_ , Gaila thinks.

"Slavery does not exist in the Federation," Spocks says. "Were you given free access to information, you would know that."

"Freedom," her captain sneers. "What freedom? You choose to come to my bed. _He_ will make you his plaything. Have I not been good to you, Gaila? Have I not given you beautiful dresses and books to read and weapons to touch between your missions? I know their ways. He will not be so kind."

"You have been kind to me," she says. "As much as it is possible to be kind to anyone you own."

She recognizes her real choice, and it's the weapon in her hands. Her captain doesn't have a chance to scream before the blue light engulfs him.

The Vulcan raises his eyebrow. "You have made your decision then?"

"I have," Gaila says. She doesn't trust this man, not yet, but she trusts herself to kill him if he tries to take her freedom. Now that he's seen her captain die, he knows her power.

"Then lay down your weapon."

"You misunderstand," she says. "I fight alongside you. I don't surrender."

His men's eyes go wide beneath their helmets. They fear her, as they should. But Gaila is a powerful ally: she knows every centimeter of her ship, and she can recruit her sisters to fight at their side. The Vulcan will recognize that.

"You propose a mutually beneficial arrangement." He holds a hand out in the Vulcan salute. "Commander Spock."

"Acting Ensign Gaila," she says and falls in line beside his men.

He turns to face her.

"Should you show the slightest hint of betrayal, Lieutenant Sulu will shoot you," he says. He nods infinitesimally at the man behind her, who nods back.

"Likewise, but I'll do my own shooting," she answers.

Spock quirks an eyebrow, and she sees a glint of humor in his eye.

"I believe that you and I will get along just fine."


End file.
